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William C.C. Claiborne, New Orleans, to Judge William Wikoff, Baton Rouge

1808, October 22
WILLAIM C.C. CLAIBORNE, NEW ORLEANS, TO JUDGE WILLIAM WIKOFF, BATON ROUGE. LS. 3 pp. English. Richmond.
Sir,
Previous to the receipt of this letter, there will have been delivered to you a copy of the "Digest of the Civil Laws." ¹ It being understood by our courts of justice that the principles of civil law (except in criminal cases) were in force throughout the territory, it became expedient to place them before the public. Heretofore few citizens had a knowledge of the civil law. It was spread over innumerable volumes, and was for the most part written in a language which few could read. The uncertainty of the law was a source of great embarrassment, not only to private individuals, but to the magistrate who was to administer it. By the adoption of the "Digest," one desirable object is at least affected. The laws are rendered more certain, and if in their operation they should be found unjust, the Legislature will, I am persuaded, lose no time in making the necessary amendments.
Indispensable as (under existing circumstances) has been the adoption of the "Digest," it will nevertheless, I suspect, be much censured by many native citizens of the United States who reside in the territory. From principle and habit, they are attached to that system of jurisprudence prevailing in the several states under which themselves and their fathers were reared. For myself, I am free to declare

1808, October 22
WILLAIM C.C. CLAIBORNE, NEW ORLEANS, TO JUDGE WILLIAM WIKOFF, BATON ROUGE. LS. 3 pp. English. Richmond.
Sir,
Previous to the receipt of this letter, there will have been delivered to you a copy of the "Digest of the Civil Laws." ¹ It being understood by our courts of justice that the principles of civil law (except in criminal cases) were in force throughout the territory, it became expedient to place them before the public. Heretofore few citizens had a knowledge of the civil law. It was spread over innumerable volumes, and was for the most part written in a language which few could read. The uncertainty of the law was a source of great embarrassment, not only to private individuals, but to the magistrate who was to administer it. By the adoption of the "Digest," one desirable object is at least affected. The laws are rendered more certain, and if in their operation they should be found unjust, the Legislature will, I am persuaded, lose no time in making the necessary amendments.
Indispensable as (under existing circumstances) has been the adoption of the "Digest," it will nevertheless, I suspect, be much censured by many native citizens of the United States who reside in the territory. From principle and habit, they are attached to that system of jurisprudence prevailing in the several states under which themselves and their fathers were reared. For myself, I am free to declare